A couple of years ago, I ran a metabolic assessment on my dad. He thought it was all interesting information, but he had never really used it to make any progress with his health. However, he did start eating better – in that he wasn’t skipping breakfast anymore and that was progress.

My dad is 6’1″, 232 lbs. If I were to “guess” at what his RMR (resting metabolic rate) was, I would have guessed around 1600 – 1800 range. When we did the gas exchange metabolic assessment on him – I was quite surprised to learn that this big man in front of me, had an RMR of 1198!! That was quite low for a big man! My RMR at the time was close to 1400! So me, his daughter that was half his weight and 7 inches smaller, could eat him under the table any day!

This last June, my dad started asking me questions again about health and weight loss. He wanted to know what to do and how to do it. Before I drug him in for another metabolic assessment (especially if he didn’t really use the last one), I thought it would be good to start him off with an InBody composition analysis. This report tells me his total body water, dry lean mass, body fat mass, weight, skeletal muscle mass, bmi and % of body fat. It also gives me a basal metabolic rate based off his lean muscle tissue. Being in this industry, I know that this won’t be the most accurate measurement of BMR, but with his old, New Leaf information and the InBody information, I figured we could accomplish something.

On June 19th, his first InBody report said his BMR was 1847. His old New Leaf assessment says it’s 1198 – but my dad said he felt and believed that his metabolism had increased some. So – we agreed that for the first couple weeks we would have him net his calories at 1,500, the middle of the two conflicting assessments. For nearly 2 weeks, my dad was VERY diligent at exercising and watching his calories to be sure he was netting around that 1,500 calorie mark. On June 29th – a week and a half later, we got him on the InBody again. NO CHANGE. He basically maintained. He was SO disappointed!! He felt like it was a waste of time – all that walking he had done! I assured him it wasn’t – had he not done it, he would most likely had gained weight and fat. So, out of curiosity, I went back to his New Leaf assessment to see what his TDC was (Total Daily Calories). TDC is the amount of calories one needs to maintain what they have, to have no change. Guess what! Yep – it was 1550!!! I just laughed, went to him and shared the information with him. I said, “according to your last New Leaf assessment – your maintenance is 1550 and that was what you have been netting the last 10 days and that is exactly what you got. Let’s move forward netting 1200, your RMR from the New Leaf assessment, and see what happens?” He agreed to give it a shot. Four weeks, many walks and a week’s vacation later, we measured him again on the InBody. This time, success!!! He went from 237.5 to 232! He lost 1 lb in water, .5 in dry lean mass and the rest was ALL fat loss!! Yahoo dad!!!

This morning – I met with a gal who had her first InBody analysis last June, she followed the information from the InBody and she was VERY successful, lost 4 lbs of fat in four weeks and maintained water and muscle. In the meantime – knowing that the InBody BMR measurements aren’t always accurate (because it’s not the most accurate way to measure BMR) she decided to have a New Leaf assessment done also – so that she could be sure she was getting an accurate measurement. For her – these two pieces of information came out very close!!

I guess the lesson I want everyone to take from this is that gas exchange is the most accurate way to have your metabolism or caloric needs, measured! You can’t always count on the InBody BMR measurement to be accurate. And you certainly can NOT judge a book by its cover. You just never know – and that’s the bottom line.

I’m happy to report that my dad was thrilled and will continue to exercise. The sweet gal that had her assessment done, now gets to net 1700 calories a day and STILL lose weight – instead of her usual dieting of 1000 or less, lose weight and gain it all back and then some. I love my job!